NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 2

[mhd]

Miami has some OLD players on their team.

Battier is certainly retiring. Ray Allen may as well. They are relying on Bird Man, who is 35. That team needs to get upper-echelon role players, but where will they come from?

It wouldn't surprise me to see Lebron leave, but I think he stays and trusts Riley.

[Zonkerbl]

Feel good for the spurs.

Feel bad for Wade. What happened to him? Was he bitten by a zombie?

[closg00]

Here's the disclaimer that doesn't get mentioned nearly enough: The executives themselves won't solidify their short-list opinions until the final week, if not days, before the draft. As a result, it's a toss-up whether the Wizards would opt for Vesely or Valanciunas. I'm opting for Valanciunas simply because I was told weeks ago that he was above Vesely on the Wizards' board. Sources say Washington is also very high on San Diego State small forward Kawhi Leonard.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z34WceocpQ

Brilliant smoke screen for who we really coveted

[fishercob]

Feel good for the spurs.

Feel bad for Wade. What happened to him? Was he bitten by a zombie?

He picked a bad time to stop juicing.

[FAH1223]

If Spurs win on Sunday, who's Finals MVP?

Honestly? Diaw.

Yeah him being in the starting lineup is huge. The trap Parker and Diaw is the PG on the floor.

Amazing Pop didn't use this lineup more in last year's Finals as much as he has this yeAr

Parker
Ginobili or Green
Leonard
Diaw
Duncan

[Ruzious]

The talking heads are blaming Lebron, but this is about San Antonio playing at a level that Miami can't contend with. They simply have not been able to defend SA. And adding Melo to the big 3 wouldn't change that. As others mentioned, Wade looked like he'd caught up with the picture of Dorian Grey - he's aged 10 years since the Indiana series. And with defense being such a problem, Miami can't find a use for Battier - not even over Rashard Lewis? And adding Melo would force Bosh to play mostly at center - which isn't going to help their defense.

[Ruzious]

If Spurs win on Sunday, who's Finals MVP?

Honestly? Diaw.

Gotta be Leonard. His all-around play against the best player in basketball has been phenominal.

[dandridge 10]

The talking heads are blaming Lebron, but this is about San Antonio playing at a level that Miami can't contend with. They simply have not been able to defend SA. And adding Melo to the big 3 wouldn't change that. As others mentioned, Wade looked like he'd caught up with the picture of Dorian Grey - he's aged 10 years since the Indiana series. And with defense being such a problem, Miami can't find a use for Battier - not even over Rashard Lewis? And adding Melo would force Bosh to play mostly at center - which isn't going to help their defense.

I agree that this is more about the Spurs. The Spurs have totally neutralized Miami's swarming defense by moving the ball around quickly and attacking the basket when Miami gets stretched out and tries to chase the Spurs from the 3 point line. Putting Diaw in the starting line-up also gives the Spurs a favorable mismatch when Miami goes small. I think the Spurs just found the recipe to attack Miami's D and that is the main reason the Spurs are up 3-1.

Leonard has played great but I would give Diaw the MVP so far. He might not be scoring that much, but he seems like he is involved in just about every winning play.

[Dat2U]

Miami isn't the big three anymore simply because they've aged worse than the Spurs have. Their the big one now. Wade is no longer a star and Bosh is stuck in role player mode. Battier & Haslem are completely done and no longer useful. Chalmers & Cole offer the worst PG play of any finals team I've ever seen. Blaming Bron is ridiculous, this isn't the same Heat team that went to the finals the past three years.

The only reason the Heat are in the finals now is because of the lack of contenders in the East. Indy had been toast since the trade deadline. Had this Heat team faced the competition of previous Heat teams the last three seasons in the playoffs, the Heat would have had an earlier exit.

[dobrojim]

watching and listening last night I was struck by how much focus was being
put on the Spurs offense. And while there is no question they continued to
play really good offense, MIA was having a hard time scoring last night. They
were barely above 30 with only a couple minutes to play in the first half.
If not for garbage time 3s, they would have put up an indy-esque point total.
The Spurs played really well at BOTH ends of the floor. One could argue that
the Spurs tremendous offensive efficiency simply exposed how much MIA
relied on their own D to create offense for them. But I think that would
be disrespecting how well the Spurs have played defensively.

The young Spurs role players were fantastic. Diaw was fantastic. They don't
even need the Big Fundamental to do that much. And if Parker is hitting
those low %age long 2s, forgetaboutit. It's over.

Before we declare an MVP, the Spurs need another W and we'll have to
see who the difference maker winds up being. They're so well balanced,
it's really hard to single out one guy.

Loved the empty quiet arena with lots of time left. Great fans.

[Nivek]

Wade's decline is because of a medical decsision made when he was 20. While at Marquette, he tore his meniscus. The surgeon removed what was left. That freed up his knee and got him back on the floor quicker, but also left him without the cartilage cushion in that knee. He's been grinding away at that bone for the past decade, and it's catching up with him.

Nowadays, surgeons know better than to just remove the meniscus. They might trim a flap down, but their goal is to preserve as much of the cartilage as possible. When the hole is big enough, they do the microfracture procedure to promote growth of a new protective cushion.

The Heat would be smart to reboot the team around Lebron and maybe Bosh, who's still a very good player. But, they need to get out from under Wade's contract, if possible. They did everything they could to get him to the playoffs in good physical condition, and he was able to have some good games in the earlier rounds. The schedule is wearing him down, though.

[Hidden Eye]

Wade been juicing but it's catching up to him now.

[dobrojim]

Ironically, Wade had a tremendous year. It's scary how well he shot the ball.
Funny how we had a 3 day layoff btw game 1-2, but then only an every other day
schedule since game 2 which appears to be catching up to D-Wade.

BTW - I like the reversion to the old 2-2-1-1-1 format. In this day/age of
charter travel, there is no reason to reward the lessor team with HCA through 5 games.

[fishercob]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qEsTXVj57M&feature=kp[/youtube]

[fishercob]

Wade's decline is because of a medical decsision made when he was 20. While at Marquette, he tore his meniscus. The surgeon removed what was left. That freed up his knee and got him back on the floor quicker, but also left him without the cartilage cushion in that knee. He's been grinding away at that bone for the past decade, and it's catching up with him.

Nowadays, surgeons know better than to just remove the meniscus. They might trim a flap down, but their goal is to preserve as much of the cartilage as possible. When the hole is big enough, they do the microfracture procedure to promote growth of a new protective cushion.

The Heat would be smart to reboot the team around Lebron and maybe Bosh, who's still a very good player. But, they need to get out from under Wade's contract, if possible. They did everything they could to get him to the playoffs in good physical condition, and he was able to have some good games in the earlier rounds. The schedule is wearing him down, though.

I think Riles goes to him and says "listen dude, I got you two more rings. Now you need to do me a solid and opt out so I can keep this thing moving." Maybe upon his retirement Arison gives Wade a small equity piece or something. But the Heat aint winning a thing with Wade making $20M next year -- more than Parker and Manu combined!

[dckingsfan]

Are you guys surprised that Spoelstra hasn't gone big? I might even swap Wade/Allen in the starting lineup.

PG: James
SG: Wade
SF: Jones
PF: Bosh
C: Bird Man

But the way SA is playing... there might not be an answer.

[Zonkerbl]

Ugh, given how vulnerable Miami is -- God did we ever miss an opportunity! Argh!

[Ruzious]

Ugh, given how vulnerable Miami is -- God did we ever miss an opportunity! Argh!

And next season might be an even better opportunity.

[FAH1223]

Miami isn't the big three anymore simply because they've aged worse than the Spurs have. Their the big one now. Wade is no longer a star and Bosh is stuck in role player mode. Battier & Haslem are completely done and no longer useful. Chalmers & Cole offer the worst PG play of any finals team I've ever seen. Blaming Bron is ridiculous, this isn't the same Heat team that went to the finals the past three years.

The only reason the Heat are in the finals now is because of the lack of contenders in the East. Indy had been toast since the trade deadline. Had this Heat team faced the competition of previous Heat teams the last three seasons in the playoffs, the Heat would have had an earlier exit.

The Heat have aged because they have veterans and only one young player getting minutes in Cole.

Duncan has aged but he has adjusted his game and his body. Ginobili had a resurgent season being healthy and Parker is still Parker but he's now getting to the point where his body can't take as much punishment and he's played a ton of ball since he turned 28.

But you look beyond them. Leonard is the youngest guy out there, Green is 26, Mills is 25, Splitter is 29... compared to Allen, Lewis, Haslem, Battier, Birdman... those are younger and more hungrier legs out there that will stay in motion.

You can definitely see the tweaks in the Spurs offense. They've always been unselfish, but last year, especially in the Finals, it was more catered to Parker breaking the defense down (either via one on one, or off the PNR), and creating either for himself or for someone else (mostly Danny Green). The Heat's PNR defense ramped up (which is saying something, as they play it very aggressive as it is), Parker was exhausted by the end of the series, and LeBron was able to curb his penetration at the end of games 6 & 7. Manu having such a bad series (outside of Game 5) probably cost them the series (well, that, and the disastrous end to Game 6). Pop didn't use Diaw enough in that series to be another facilitator when they trapped pick and roll.

This year, Manu is playing well, but the offense is a completely different animal. They're relying less on the PNR, and more on making sure the ball doesn't stop moving. Don't misunderstand: the PNR is still there every time down the court, but it's used more as an ignitor of the offense, as opposed to a finish. They're allowing the Heat to consistently play themselves out of position, and continually taking advantage. It's crazy, cause the Heat are known for playing very aggressive defense when the games get big, and it's always worked. However, after last year, it seems that Pop recognized that, and thus the subtle shift in their offensive philosophy. What was Miami's biggest advantage has now turned into it's biggest detriment.

Spo gets alot of heat (no pun), but what is he supposed to do (on defense atleast...offense is another issue)? Ever since the Big 3 have been there, they've hung their hat on their aggressive defense, and now it's being exploited masterfully by Pop and his well oiled machine. Can't do anything but tip your cap. Their best is better than your best. Atleast up to this point...

[pancakes3]

A big ole +1, FAH. The PnR isn't being used as a means to an end in getting to the basket so much as a way to create chaos and double-teams which inevitably lead to layup lanes, open 3's, and point blank dump-offs. A lot of Duncan and Splitter's layup/dunks came in them standing WAY under/behind the basket almost hoping to be lost in the shuffle before filling a void where Bosh/Birdman went to help on a Parker/Mills/Diaw penetration.

Not exactly the play I'm trying to describe but close.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SDnLBH_wdE[/youtube]